Given Away
by Guitarsquatch
Summary: Hermione watches the love of her life get married
1. chapter 1

This was it. This was the day the love of her life would be getting married.

She was happy for them, of course, and she would be the first to say she was the happiest of all of their family and friends. Regardless, there was that underlying feeling of despair that just would not leave her, and if she were honest, which she prided herself in being, she probaby would feel that way for years to come.

She turned to look down the isle as the wedding march began to play, and there, being led by her father, was the bride to be. She'd honestly never seen such a vision of beauty and elegance and it was what brought the beginning of her tears which would be followed by more.

The bride appeared to be the embodiment of heaven, or at the very least, an angel. Her porcelain skin shone as bright as the midday sun, with her auburn hair, which was loose around her head and waving like the flames of a torch in a calm, gentle breeze, only helping to cement that comparison.

Her dress was pure white and appeared to have been made with the lightest and most delicate of materials, and waving in the gentle breeze gave a near ethereal quality to the already gliding gait of the young woman whom was wearing it. It was as if the air and clouds came together to lend themselves to be worn by a goddess.

As the music came to an end her father gave her away at the inquiry of the priest. He turned to head her way meeting her chocolate eyes with his own emerald ones, which shown with pride and unshead tears. As he sat down he entwined his fingers with hers and leaned in to whisper, "Isn't she the most gorgeous thing to grace our lives?". She could only nod as she watched the proceedings with even more tears falling as she knew they would.

This was it. This was the day that her daughter Catherine Lily Potter became Catherine Lily Longbottom.


	2. Given Away extended

It had been a day in the making for nearly twenty years, and one that she and Luna had been semi-jokingly fantasizing about when the two women would get together for playdates between Catherine and Luna's son Xander.

They'd planned to have playdates for their babies whilst they were still pregnant, since all of them had lived especially lonely childhoods. The last thing they wanted was for their children to experience the same feeling of loneliness, and the first action they wanted to take was to get them to bond as infants.

To add to what would have already been a strong bond, the parents all surprised each other by naming the other couple as god parents.

The kids absolutely adored each other and always greeted each other with cries of "Cate" and "Xan" respectively. The little games of "Knight and Princess" they played were the cutest things she'd ever seen.

As the years went by the kids grew and so did their friendship. It came to a point that Cate and Xander were practically inseperable and became a bit awkward once puberty was nearing and it was apparent that The Talk was necessary for the children to understand the reason to why they weren't allowed to sleep in the same room anymore.

It all came to an inevitable head in the kids fourth year of Hogwarts when Hermione, or Professor Potter as she was known to the students of Hogwarts, found Cate and Xander in a rather passionate kiss in an alcove after the last bell of the day. The looks on their faces when she cleared her throat was hilarious and she had to fight the smirk that was trying to force itself on her face. What made it even funnier was them telling her "it's not what it looks like". _Honestly_.

The trek to the greenhouses were a trying affair in that the smirk that had previously attemted to break on her face had graduated into what was going to be a full blown laugh attack once she let it be released.

They entered the first greenhouse in which Professor Longbottom was working. The concern on Neville's soon turned into forced seriousness once he learned the reason behind Cate and Xan's pale faces.

Xan and Cate's pale faces turned to looks of shock at both of their parent's sudden laughter, and soon those looks of shock turned to relief as they realised that not only were Neville and Hermione okay with it (within reason, of course), they had a bet as to when Cate and Xan would become a couple. Luna had won that one, which wasn't a surprise since the woman made uncanny predictions, but since the money won went towards the kids tuition no one really ever got annoyed.

Cate and Xan continued their relationship through Hogwart's and came the inevitable "conclusion" at her 20th birthday get together when Xan got on one knee and proposed. Her tearful and choked "Yes!" was met with loud cheering from all in attendence.

Hermione was drawn from her reminiscing as she heard "You may now kiss the bride" and watched in tearful pride as her little girl closed the distance and into a gentle and beautilful kiss that signified the beginning of her new life.


End file.
